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Accepted Paper:
WhatsApp and whisper networks: Worker isolation to collectivization in digital labour platforms
Sai Amulya K
(Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad)
Drawing on interviews with beauty gig workers in Hyderabad, this presentation will focus on the use of WhatsApp groups by workers and the subsequent creation of whisper networks to collectivize, resist, and exercise agency.
Paper long abstract:
Over the last decade, the platform economy has helped generate more jobs and organize work that has largely been unorganized and informal. However, the 'quality of jobs' has yet to see an improvement. Protests by women workers against Urban Company (UC) point to these issues. While these protests are certainly a public expression of the angst of women workers against UC, workers also face difficulties in dealing with customers. Drawing on my interviews with beauty gig workers in Hyderabad, I explore the use of WhatsApp groups by workers and the subsequent creation of whisper networks to collectivize, resist, and exercise agency. The term "whisper network" refers to a thriving system of informal communication amongst women to warn each other about male sexual predators within their immediate environment. Departing from the dominant notion that men are the subjects of whisper networks, this chapter uses an intersectional feminist lens to broaden its scope to include caste and class.